Being able to spend the summer with the St. Joseph County Department of Health was one of the best decisions I’ve made. I had an expectation of working with the vector team when talking to previous interns, but on my first day, we were told that we would get the full experience of public health. We worked with every department within the Department of Health. Just to name a few, we worked with the vector, food, septic, public nurse, and CARE departments. Every day was a new task, and it kept me constantly on my toes. It was nice to learn how vast public health is. This made my days challenging with learning so much new information every day, but enjoyable to get the whole experience of the health department.
Along with working with the health department, we were allowed to sit in on didactic lectures held by IUMS at the South Bend Campus every Wednesday afternoon. We learned about environmental health and what we could do to preserve the environment. It was very interesting to hear from all the guest speakers and what they specialize in to help the environment around them. Along with the lectures and health department, we were also allowed to shadow Wabash alumni doctors every Friday afternoon. We worked with Dr. Oppman, Dr. Brier, Dr. Cassady, Dr. Curt Gongwer, and Dr. Cam Gongwer. The experience and conversations I had shadowing these doctors are something I will carry with me forever. Coming from a family that does not work in the health field, seeing and talking about the day-to-day work they do makes me confirm my passion for healthcare.
This internship was perfect for me since I am a pre-medical student and a biochemistry major. This opportunity gave me a lot of experience in public health, which is something I believe all health workers should experience. I want to thank the whole St. Joseph County Health Department, especially Mark Espich and Briannah McCall. I want to thank Dr. Fox for setting up the opportunity to be at the didactic lectures. I want to thank Dr. Oppman for setting up all the shadowing with the Wabash alumni. I want to thank Jill Rogers and all the GHI donors for allowing me to have this summer experience. My final thank you goes out to Dr. Milligan for setting up all these connections with us, and I am forever grateful for that.
